Jets see Bucs in a class of their own

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- There was no shortage of high praise for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New York Jets' camp Wednesday

The Bucs are one of five NFL teams, including the Jets, off to a 3-0 start this season

But none of those other four-- the Giants, Vikings, Rams and Jets - has been as dominant both offensively and defensively as Tampa Bay

The Bucs have outscored New England, Chicago and Detroit by a total of 93-26 and seem to be getting better with a 41-0 home pasting of the Bears two weeks ago and a 31-10 blowout at Detroit last weekend after a 21-16 win at New England to open the season

New York coach Al Groh will take his surprising Gang Green team south this weekend for a nationally televised showdown Sunday with the Bucs at Raymond James Stadium (4:15 p.m., WCBS-2, WFSB-3). And Groh believes his team is in for a daunting task against a team he compared Wednesday to the Pittsburgh Steelers' dynasty of the 1970's

"This team certainly has the look of a Super Bowl-type team to me," said Groh, who was the linebackers coach for the Giants and a defensive coordinator for the Patriots during Super Bowl seasons for those teams in 1990 and 1996, respectively. "It's by pattern because the team looks a lot like the Pittsburgh teams that were on their championship runs when Chuck Noll was the coach."

The connection between the championship Steeler teams and the current Bucs becomes more genuine through Tampa Bay coach Tony Dungy

Dungy was a defensive back for Noll on the 1978 Super Bowl team. He also served as an assistant coach and later defensive coordinator for Noll from 1981-88

"The cornerstone (of the Steelers then and now the Bucs) is defense -- and that's defense built on speed, explosiveness and destruction," Groh said. "You see some of the same-look-type players whether it's Jack Ham playing outside linebacker and now it's Derrick Brooks (for Tampa Bay); whether it was Mean Joe Green disrupting things in the middle and now it's Warren Sapp; whether it's the hard-hitting guys in the secondary like Mel Blount and now it's John Lynch and Ronde Barber."

Tampa Bay has built its reputation on defense since Dungy took over in 1996

The Bucs have allowed a NFL-low 282 yards and 16.9 points a game in the past four seasons.

This season the defense has been even more dominant, allowing an average of just 229 yards and fewer than nine points in the first three games

But there's a new twist to Tampa Bay this season: the offense is averaging 32 points.

The running back combination of Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn leads an attack that is averaging 138 yards.Quarterback Shaun King has thrown no interceptions in three games while passing for four touchdowns and running for two

And, lest we forget, there's the addition of the former Jet Keyshawn Johnson at wide receiver. Johnson, who has spent as much time this week talking about his former team as preparing for it, has teamed up with Jacquez Green for a potent wideout combo

"Tony (Dungy) has done a remarkable job turning that team around into a legitimate contender," Groh said.

So it seems that New York has little chance of winning Sunday at James Stadium, the home of this season's Super Bowl and the place where the Bucs have gone 15-1 since it opened in 1998

The only team to beat the Bucs at home was the Giants by a 17-13 score in the 1999 season opener. Dungy appreciates the praise, but he isn't ready to be put in the same sentence as the Steelers' dynasty just yet

"They (the Steelers) are my background in professional football, really where I learned the game and coach Noll was a great person to work under," Dungy said. "We've kind of patterned it after that here by using speed and explosive players after the Steelers that I knew.

"But that (Steelers) team won four Super Bowls in six years and has seven guys in the Hall of Fame. We've been in the playoffs twice, so we're not anywhere near there yet.

"But I think we've got a young group that plays hard, a lot like those guys did, and I think we have a lot of pieces to the puzzle. We have continuity in our coaching staff, which the Steelers had, so the design is there, but we have to see it come to fruition."

And Dungy feels his Bucswill be in for a battle against a Jets' team that has a NFL-long winning streak of seven games dating back to last season. New York also will be attempting to start a season 4-0 for the first time in its 41-year franchise history

"I really like the way they're playing," Dungy said of the Jets. "It's a continuation from last year. Whatever it takes to win the ballgame they're doing, whether it's creating fumbles on special teams, knocking the ball loose on defense or making critical plays running the football. Whatever they have to do win they're doing, and that's the mark of a winning football team."